As the development of autonomous vehicles (AV) gain steam and continue to disrupt the automobile industry, an associate professor at the 四虎影视 believes advanced radar may be key in improving the safety of these driverless cars.
Rather than using cameras to guide the fully autonomous vehicles, Xiaopeng Li, a Susan A. Bracken Fellow in 四虎影视鈥檚 Department of Civil Environmental Engineering, has developed driverless technology using light detection and ranging (LIDAR). LIDAR is a remote sensing method that uses a constant pulse of invisible laser beams to create extremely detailed 3D maps. The technology has ability to operate regardless of light and weather conditions and allows the vehicles to distinguish between two objects over 100 meters away.
鈥淭he ultimate goal is to make our transportation systems better in terms of safety, mobility and environment. These vehicles can respond faster and see further and get more information. They can be connected to the cloud and all kinds of computer and communication resources,鈥� said Li.
Li鈥檚 research, funded by a 2019 National Science Foundation grant among others, focuses on utilizing the AV testbed to research the control, management and societal benefits of autonomous vehicles in traffic system dynamics.
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